Epilepsy Cured in Mice Using Transplanted Brain Cells

Epilepsy, a neurological disorder characterized by repeated
seizures, can be as scary as it is unpredictable. Fortunately,
scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, are now one
step closer to finding a cure for the debilitating disease.

By
implanting inhibitory cells in the brains of mice, the researchers were
able to control epileptic seizures in the animals, and their technique
may point the way to a cure for the disorder in humans.

The new study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, is a breakthrough in the field of epilepsy research. According to the Epilepsy Foundation,
the disorder affects 65 million people worldwide. Treatments include
medication and surgery, but there is currently no definitive cure.

"Our
results are an encouraging step toward using inhibitory neurons for
cell transplantation in adults with severe forms of epilepsy," said lead
author Dr. Scott C. Baraban in a press release. "This procedure offers
the possibility of controlling seizures and rescuing cognitive deficits
in these patients."

How Does the Procedure Work?

During
the one-time procedure, researchers transplanted medial ganglionic
eminence (MGE) cells into epileptic mice to target nerve circuits in the
brain’s hippocampus. This region of the brain is thought to be
responsible for seizures.

The MGE cells prevented, or inhibited,
nerve cells in the brain from firing rapidly to cause an epileptic
seizure. "These cells migrate widely and integrate into the adult brain
as new inhibitory neurons," Baraban said.

The
researchers also created human MGE-like cells to implant into healthy
mice. These cells also caused an inhibitory response in the animals’
brains. Research on this further experiment was published in the journal
Cell Stem Cell.

What Does This Mean for Epileptic Patients?

Though
the experiment was not conducted on people, the parallels between the
disorder in mice and humans are encouraging. The lab mice were
engineered with a brain condition that mimics a drug-resistant form of
epilepsy in humans called mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

"This
is the first report in a mouse model of adult epilepsy in which mice
that already were having seizures stopped having seizures after
treatment," Baraban reported.

Experiments on lab mice
can never completely predict the impact of a drug or procedure on human
patients, but the UCSF study is an important jumping-off point for
scientists investigating brain disorders.

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